IMAGES: New cycle path on College Green

While things are still up in the air regarding Luas Cross City and city, one glimpse of hope os the short but welcome new section of cycle path on College Green.

The reason why it’s so wide is because it should eventually become part of a longer two-way cycle route.

It will link into both College Street and Westmorland Street, although exactly how is not yet public. It will also link into the planned (and near invisible) east-west cycle route alone the south side of the proposed College Green Plaza.

The first images here will be part of the planned plaza if it gets approved:

But it currently ends on the not much changed Westmorland Street:

Still a big improvement from mixing with buses and taxis on the corner:

Eventually the new section of cycle path should join up with east-west route to the south of the planned College Green Plaza (the combined future route is shown in red below). West of the the bus turning circle (the large circle below), the two-way cycle path will split back onto the with-flow cycle paths / lanes on both sides of the roadway on Dame Street:

Looks great ,seen it being put in but have not used it yet. The problem is when you get past this spot on way to O’connell Bridge you have Buses and Taxis cutting in front of you to get over to the left to either Park at Bus stops or else go down Astons Quay. So you have to watch out for this and be prepared to stop if you have to. I would have liked if this Cycle Path continued up to Grafton St Nassau St Junction, badly needed.

Without meaning to rain on anyone’s parade, it is really hoped that those nasty cheap plastic bollards are not to become a permanent feature at College Green. Such garish roadworks-style engineering is not fit for supposed capital city as a permanent solution – and it is welcomed these are no longer present at Lower O’Connell Street, where apart from being unsightly, also constituted a hazard in my experience, as bollards made it additionally difficult to avoid pedestrians jaywalking. Alas I suspect I am possibly in a minority regarding this :(

This is great but would be even better if they could have a separate cycle phase at the lights. Give people cycling a chance to filter across into whichever lane they need without having to yield to motor traffic coming from Dame St.

A huge and very dangerous flaw with this cycle lane is that you now have to take your life in your hands to turn from Westmoreland Street into Fleet Street, as I do every morning. Beforehand, you could move into the turning lane on the right hand side. Now cyclists are trapped in the leftmost lane all the way to the traffic lights, which forces you to turn right across a straight-ahead lane – an inconvenience if the lights are red, but a veritable death-trap if they’re green.

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